Eva's Mouse Care Page 5 - Breeding

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Questions:

When do I remove the male?
Does the female mouse need to be alone when having babies?
What kind of food do I give the babies?
When do I wean the babies?
How do I recognise different growth stages in the babies?
What about breeding and temperament?
How do I tame the babies?

Answers:

QUESTION 1: When do I remove the male?

ANSWER: As soon as the female mouse looks pregnant.

QUESTION 2: Does the female mouse need to be alone when having babies?

ANSWER: No. She can live with other females that she knows, but should not live with the male.

QUESTION 3: What kind of food do I give the babies?

ANSWER: Any kind of human baby food, boiled and mashed eggs, and anything else that seems easy to eat for small mouse babies and contains high quality food.

QUESTION 4: When do I wean the babies?

ANSWER: Usually between 4 and 5 weeks, depending on actual size. Females can be left with the mother.

QUESTION 5: How do I recognise different growth stages in the babies?

ANSWER:

Newborn - bright pink. Edges of the ears stuck to head.
Around three days - ears normal, can hear better.
Around 4-5 days - skin darkens in babies that will get dark colours. Markings are starting to be seen on top.
Around 14 days - eyes open.
Around three weeks - "popcorn stage", babies may jump about a lot. Babies can be saved if mother dies.
Around 4-5 weeks - time for male babies to move from mother and sisters. When depends on size.

QUESTION 6: What about breeding and temperament?

ANSWER: Be stern when it comes to temperament. Maybe you do not care about being bitten by a small mouse but the people you sell your mice to might. Remember that temperament is highly heredic and be very careful when pickning out the father and mother of the next litter of babies...

Here in Sweden we have bred for years to have males that can happily live with other males without fighting, and that is not impossible to achieve (we did it and so can you!). There are also several lab strains with this trait. Many English type mice are also not prone to fighting among males.

If you are a breeder and buy a group of such non-fighting males, they might start fighting when they move into a room with new unknown males, I believe this is so because of the smell of unknown males. If you breed from these non-fighting mice you might actually get non-fighting offspring.

FRÅGA 7: How do I tame the babies?

SVAR: Sit down and handle the babies at least one or two times a day for agood 20 minutes or more from that they are small. But if you have the correkt good temper you should only have to pet the mom once in a while, I call that "the babies are born with perfect temper" :-)